A randomized motivational enhancement prevention group reduces drinking and alcohol consequences in first-year college women (original) (raw)
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Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Supplement, 2009
Objective: Female college students have increased their alcohol consumption rates. The current study sought to replicate the effectiveness of a female-specifi c motivational-enhancement group intervention and extended previous work by adding a 6-month follow-up. The intervention included several motivational-enhancement components delivered in a group setting and included a group discussion of femalespecifi c reasons for drinking. Method: Participants were 285 fi rst-year college women. Data collection consisted of an online pre-intervention questionnaire, 10 weeks of online follow-up assessment, and a 6-month online follow-up. Using a randomized design, participants chose a group session, blind to treatment status. Held during the fi rst weeks of the fi rst semester, 159 participants received the intervention and 126 participants received an assessment-only control. Results: Using a repeated-measures analysis of covariance, intervention participants consumed signifi cantly less than control participants on drinks per week (F = 11.86, 1/252 df, p < .001), maximum drinks (F = 11.90, 1/252 df, p < .001), and heavy episodic drinking events (F = 20.14, 1/252 df, p < .001) across 10 weeks of follow-up. However, these effects did not persist at the 6-month follow-up. Moderation effects were found for social motives on all drinking variables, such that the intervention was most effective for those women with higher social motives for drinking. Conclusions: Effi cacy was found for a female-specifi c motivational group intervention in creating less risky drinking patterns among fi rst-year women, especially women with social motives for drinking. The effect dissipated by the second semester, suggesting the need for maintenance or booster sessions. (J.
Relative efficacy of a brief motivational intervention for college student drinkers
Psychology of …, 2001
1999), a single session of drinking-related feedback intended to reduce heavy drinking and related harm. College student drinkers (N = 99) were assigned to BASICS, an educational intervention, or an assessment-only control group. At 3 months postintervention, there were no overall significant group differences, but heavier drinking BASICS participants showed greater reductions in weekly alcohol consumption and binge drinking than did heavier drinking control and education participants. At 9 months, heavier drinking BASICS participants again showed the largest effect sizes. BASICS participants evaluated the intervention more favorably than did education participants. This study suggests that BASICS may be more efficacious than educational interventions for heavier drinking college students.
Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 2010
The aim of this study was to evaluate a brief motivational intervention (BMI) for reducing risky alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among mandated (M) and voluntary (V) student drinkers to determine (a) whether BMI-mandated students report greater decreases in alcohol use and related problems, relative to no treatment; (b) whether a BMI is comparably effective for mandated and voluntary students; and (c) whether a mandated control group shows greater changes in alcohol use and related problems relative to a voluntary control group. Participants were undergraduate student research volunteers (62% male) who met heavy drinking criteria and completed measures of alcohol use and alcohol problems at baseline and 4 weeks after intervention. Participants (N = 84) were randomly assigned to treatment (T) or assessment-only control (C) conditions (mandated students were assigned to a brief wait list). Participants assigned to treatment reported consuming fewer drinks after the interventi...
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 2010
This study examined the effectiveness of a single-session group motivational enhancement alcohol intervention on adjudicated male college students. Over two sequential academic years, 230 students sanctioned by the university for alcohol-related infractions attended a 60-to 75-minute group intervention. The intervention consisted of a timeline followback, social norms education, decisional balance for behavioral change, blood alcohol content (BAC) information, expectancy challenge, and generation of behavioral goals. Participants were followed weekly for three months and showed reductions in drinking (29%) and alcohol-related consequences (32%) at three-month follow-up. The intervention was successful in reducing drinking for both first-year students and upperclassmen, with reductions appearing to be a function of the intervention and not the citation itself. Furthermore, a post hoc control condition revealed that those participants randomly assigned to the intervention group condition reduced drinking (19%) and alcohol-related consequences (44%) more than participants in the control condition over one month. These results provide continued evidence of the effectiveness of group motivational enhancement interventions with adjudicated male college students.
Individual-level interventions to reduce college student drinking: A meta-analytic review
Addictive Behaviors, 2007
In light of increasing numbers of controlled studies evaluating alcohol abuse prevention interventions for college drinkers, we conducted a meta-analysis to summarize the current status of the literature. The meta-analysis includes 62 studies, published between 1985-early 2007, with 13 750 participants and 98 intervention conditions. All studies were content coded for study descriptors, participant characteristics, and intervention components. We derived weighted mean effect sizes for alcohol interventions versus comparison conditions for consumption variables and alcohol-related problems, over four measurement intervals. Over follow-up intervals lasting up to 6 months, participants in risk reduction interventions drank significantly less relative to controls. Students receiving interventions also reported fewer alcohol-related problems over longer intervals. Moderator analyses suggest that individual, face-to-face interventions using motivational interviewing and personalized normative feedback predict greater reductions in alcohol-related problems. Implications for future research include attention to maintenance of effects, and developing more efficacious interventions for at-risk college drinkers.
Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2015
For over 2 decades, brief motivational interventions (BMIs) have been implemented on college campuses to reduce heavy drinking and related negative consequences. Such interventions include in-person motivational interviews (MIs), often incorporating personalized feedback (PF), and stand-alone PF interventions delivered via mail, computer, or the Web. Both narrative and meta-analytic reviews using aggregate data from published studies suggest at least short-term efficacy of BMIs, although overall effect sizes have been small. This study was an individual participant-level data (IPD) meta-analysis of 17 randomized clinical trials evaluating BMIs. Unlike typical meta-analysis based on summary data, IPD meta-analysis allows for an analysis that correctly accommodates the sampling, sample characteristics, and distributions of the pooled data. In particular, highly skewed distributions with many zeroes are typical for drinking outcomes, but have not been adequately accounted for in existi...
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2012
Objective: Behavioral economic theory suggests that a reduction in substance use is most likely when there is an increase in rewarding substance-free activities. The goal of this randomized controlled clinical trial was to evaluate the incremental efficacy of a novel behavioral economic supplement (Substance-Free Activity Session [SFAS]) to a standard alcohol brief motivational interviewing (BMI) session for heavy-drinking college students. Method: Participants were 82 first-year college students (50% female; 81.7% White/European American; M age ϭ 18.5 years, SD ϭ 0.71) who reported 2 or more past-month heavy drinking episodes. After completing a baseline assessment and an individual alcohol-focused BMI, participants were randomized to either the SFAS or to a Relaxation Training (RT) control session. The SFAS was delivered in an MI style and attempted to increase the salience of delayed academic and career rewards and the patterns of behavior leading to those rewards. Results: The combination of an alcohol BMI plus the SFAS was associated with significantly greater reductions in alcohol problems compared with an alcohol BMI plus RT at the 1-month and 6-month follow-up assessments ( p ϭ .015, p 2 ϭ .07), an effect that was partially mediated by increases in protective behavioral strategies. BMI ϩ SFAS was also associated with greater reductions in heavy drinking among participants who at baseline reported low levels of substance-free reinforcement or symptoms of depression. Conclusion: These results are consistent with behavioral economic theory and suggest that a single session focused on increasing engagement in alternatives to drinking can enhance the effects of brief alcohol interventions.
A behavioral economic supplement to brief motivational interventions for college drinking
Addiction Research & Theory, 2012
Basic behavioral and neurobiological research has demonstrated that deficiencies in naturally occurring substance-free rewards are both a cause and a consequence of substance abuse that are due in part to the systematic discounting of delayed substance-free rewards. Existing brief motivational interventions (BMIs) for alcohol abuse do not target this mechanism of change. The goal of this uncontrolled pilot study was to evaluate a behavioral economic Substance-Free Activity Session (SFAS) to traditional alcohol BMIs. Participants were 13 college freshmen who reported two or more heavy drinking episodes (>5/4 drinks in an occasion for men/ women) in the past month. All participants completed a baseline assessment and a BMI that addressed alcohol use. In addition, participants received the SFAS, a 50-min individual session that attempts to increase engagement in constructive alternatives to drinking by enhancing the salience of delayed rewards (academic and career success) and the patterns of behavior (academic and extracurricular engagement) leading to these outcomes. At the 1-month follow-up assessment, participants reported significant reductions in heavy drinking, and moderate to large effect size reductions in weekly drinking and peak blood alcohol levels. The results of this pilot study provide preliminary support for the efficacy of this behavioral economic intervention session as a supplement to traditional alcohol BMIs.
Addictive Behaviors, 2007
College students who violate campus alcohol policies (adjudicated students) are at high risk for experiencing negative alcohol-related consequences and for undermining campus life. Further, college women may be especially at risk due to differential intoxication effects and sexual consequences experienced mainly by female students. Research on interventions for adjudicated students, especially adjudicated females, has been limited. One hundred and fifteen college women who received a sanction for violating campus alcohol policies participated in the study. The two hour group intervention focused on female-specific reasons for drinking and included decisional balance, goal setting and other exercises. Participants completed follow-up surveys for 12 weeks following the intervention and answered questions regarding alcohol consumption and alcohol-related negative consequences. Findings support the use of an MI-based intervention to reduce both alcohol consumption and consequences among adjudicated females. Specifically, alcohol use was reduced by 29.9% and negative consequences were reduced by 35.87% from preintervention to 3-month follow up. Further, the intervention appeared to successfully initiate change in the heaviest drinkers, as women who drank at risky levels reduced alcohol consumption to a greater extent than women who drank at moderate levels.